They Walk Among Stone and Starlight
by TheCrimsonAuthoress
Summary: After the final battle, Kili must come to terms with the deaths of his brother and uncle, and prepare to take his rightful place as the heir of Erebor. But there is only one thing he really wants. As he and Tauriel figure out their places in this new world, they realize that hope indeed can push back the darkness. Movie-verse, alternate ending.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer**: I do not own any part of LOTR or the Hobbit because you know if I did, the Hobbit would only have been 2 movies maximum. Regardless, I did really enjoy the pairing of Kili and Tauriel, and wanted to explore their relationship further in an alternative ending fic, so please enjoy! If you absolutely hate this pairing or anything that is not Hobbit canon, this probably isn't for you but hey, way to expand your horizons by clicking on my story.

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**They Walk Among Stone and Starlight**

"Kili!"

The shout swept across the desolate hillside and up the steep slope she now faced. When she had heard that Kili and his kin were alone on that outcrop, about to be ambushed by Azog's forces, all thought flew from her head, and the only thing left to her was to act. Without thought for her king's orders, for the rest of the fighting surrounding her, for her own safety, she raced as fast as her long legs would carry her, towards the place where he would be, fighting for his life without knowing what was coming next.

"Tauriel!" Cried an answering voice, his voice, the voice she now knew well. She had not dared to let herself name the feelings he caused within her, had not let herself acknowledge such a notion, even in her own mind. When he had left the ruins of Laketown to rejoin his kin in the mountain, when he had turned away, and back again, and had whispered something in Khuzdul to her, she had pretended not to know its meaning. _I think you do_, he had said. Now, hearing her name upon his lips, the relief mixed with the concern and bewilderment, she could acknowledge it. She knew.

"Kili!" She cried again, leaping up ledge after ledge to reach him. She had broken every law of her people to save him from Morgul poison. She would not let him pass from her again. She had to protect him.

At last, she ascended a steep rise and landed on a ledge of rock barely large enough to fit ten men. Trying to catch her breath she looked up, and what she saw made her lose what breath she had. Kili was in the grip of the one she had heard called Bolg, a hulking creature with dead eyes and spiked metal rings welded into his flesh. In his gilded mail, Kili looked like a burst of sunlight fighting a relentless dark storm, a light in the darkness. Bolg had him by the arm, but the other was swinging around to deliver a blow.

Instinct kicking in, Tauriel leaped towards the creature, unsheathing two of her daggers and aiming them straight at Bolg, anticipating the feeling of plunging them into his skull. Kili's sword arm had completed its arc, and slashed into Bolg's wrist. He howled and dropped the dwarf, but he was too fast even for Tauriel. He spun away from her knives, using his momentum to propel off the rock face and get behind her. The balls of her feet landed inches from Kili and she pivoted before he had time to get up. At last he stood beside her and they faced their enemy together.

"Don't let him reverse our position," Kili muttered to her. If Bolg got behind them again, he could force them off the ledge. Tauriel was light and swift, and could outmaneuver the orc if need be, but Kili was far denser and could not change course as easily. The three stood facing each other, sizing up the situation. Tauriel waited for Bolg to move first. He lunged for her and she ducked away, managing to slash the creature's legs and give Kili an opportunity to stab an arm, but Bolg would not succumb to such paltry wounds. As Kili's sword sliced his flesh, the orc swung his other arm around and grabbed Kili's in a death grip. Tauriel turned just in time to see Bolg's foot reach out and kick her square in the temple. Rolling, she managed to stop herself before she fell off the rock ledge. She saw a flash of gold and, panicking, raised her head, not noticing the blood dripping through her hair.

Horrified, she watched in frozen panic as she saw Bolg take hold of Kili's hair and bend him backwards like a sapling in a strong wind. His other arm came up, lifting a massive blade, poised straight over Kili's heart. Eyes wide, face etched with pain, breath halted, she watched as Kili slowly turned his head to look at her. His eyes said that he knew his moment had come, there were no moves left for him to make, and the last thing he wanted to see in this world was her face. Tears formed and began to stream down her cheeks as she watched him mouth the phrase _I love you_.

_I love you too, and I am not afraid to say it any longer_, she thought. _And you will not be taken from me_. Eyes growing hard as steel, she pushed herself off the rock as fast as she could and raced toward Bolg, forgetting the wound in her head, forgetting the tiredness in her limbs, forgetting she even had a body that could be hurt. A primal sound exploded from her throat and her only awareness of herself was of a weapon that could inflict destruction and pain upon the one who would hurt her love. Bolg's arm had almost found its target when she reached him. Turning a second too late to see her, he brought his sword up to change direction, but hers were already hitting their mark. One after the other, her blades sliced into his chest. Bolg let out a great howl of rage and dropped Kili. Swiftly regaining his footing, the dwarf picked up his fallen sword and sliced the orc's head clean off its shoulders.

Blood black as night and thick as sap oozed from the wound, emitting a putrid stink. Slowly, as if in a dream, elf and dwarf faced each other, each taking in the other, alive and whole. Then, wordlessly, they rushed into each other's arms.

With no energy to spare, Tauriel sank to her knees as she wrapped her arms around Kili as tightly as they would go. He returned the pressure and, breathing hard, exhausted, they stayed that way for several minutes. Finally, he broke the silence.

"I thought I was done for…I thought that my time had come." She pulled away from him to look into his eyes, still haunted by death.

"I saved you from Death once before. I will not have him take you yet." At that, a small smile lifted the corner of his mouth, and for one shining moment it seemed as if her world were put right. Then the smile disappeared.

"We should get back to the others. Who knows what's going on down there. I need to find Fili and—" He stopped abruptly as the horrible, horrible memory of his brother's body crashing down before him came flooding back. At this, the worst of all the blows he had received, his legs buckled and he would have sunk face down on the stone if Tauriel's hands did not grasp his shoulders tightly.

"Fili…Fili…" he muttered, half mad. And then he lifted his head back and let out a scream, a wail of such torment that even those in the battle melee below paused for a brief instant, wondering what method of torture could produce such agony. Tauriel shuddered. It was the sound her heart had made when she thought he was lost.

Quickly, his anguish churned into a gut-wrenching anger. Pushing himself up fiercely, he gathered his sword from the cold ground and stood tall in the sunlight, chest heaving with rage, eyes sparking like flint struck.

"I will make them pay for this," he told Tauriel in a voice barely contained, tears streaming unchecked in a torrent down his dirt-smeared face. "I will hunt down every last orc, troll, and beast, and I will make them scream to the heavens. I will avenge my brother."

"We both will, together." She replied. "Let us honor his spirit in this dance with death."

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By the time the eagles swooped in and laid waste to Azog's forces, Kili was utterly spent. He had sustained many injuries since his faceoff with Bolg, and more than once he thought that his Passing Moment had only been delayed for mere minutes since that encounter. He had five arrow points sticking out of various places and blood vied for prominence against the dirt that covered him. His rage had fueled him past his own limits, and now that he had somewhat sated his bloodlust and saw the rest of the orcs being torn, ripped, and decimated, he could at last allow his weariness to catch him up, and sank to the ground among a ring of corpses.

Tauriel stood nearby, neither one losing sight of the other for more than a minute during this last push against the enormous army. Having ascertained her safety, Kili felt that he could melt into the earth and never rise. The fury of battle had let him focus on a single task, to kill as many as possible, without having to examine the cause too closely. Now, it flooded through him, a numbness that told him half of his soul had been ripped from his body, and there was no way to get it back. Tauriel came over to him, and her hand on his shoulder was a small anchor in his vast sea of despair.

"It's over," she said softly. "You have done right by him." He could not respond. "Shall we go get him?" She asked, more softly still. After a minute, he nodded heavily, his only reason for doing so the need to protect his brother from those evil creatures, even in death. He needed to bring his brother home, to the mountain, to rest with their forebears in the halls of Erebor.

Slowly, Tauriel helped him to his feet. He was not aware of anything else but her presence beside him and the sick hollowness within him. His mind was trying to tell him that Fili would be fine, he was always fine, he always recovered from whatever scrapes they got into, this time was no different. They would find him standing on that ledge surveying the battleground, and he would laugh at Kili for being so worried, worried about the brother who was always there, as constant as the sun.

When they finally reached the place where Fili's body lay, Kili's control was slipping fast. Tauriel whispered something to him, and later he would recall the words as meaning something akin to, "I'll let you be with him," before she stood back and he turned the corner.

Then he saw his brother, once proud and strong and _alive_, lying in the snow, looking up at the sky with glassy eyes that saw no more. Kili took his big brother up in his arms, hugged him to his chest, and sobbed as he had never sobbed in his life, not since the day they had been out hunting as small dwarflings and Kili had gotten lost, and had cried out for Fili to find him. But then, Fili had been there to wipe away the tears and say that everything was alright. He could not do that this time. Kili sat for a long time, until the sun sank behind the mountains in the west, and darkness enveloped him.

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When he emerged from behind the corner, he was stone-faced, and Tauriel started. She hoped she would never have to see that expression on his once care-free visage ever again. She did not know how to make the pain go away. She had never had a sibling, but she could imagine the loss well enough, having seen her guards, brothers-in-arms, and friends die in battle before. Wordlessly she followed him, and together they brought Fili down the mountain.

When they reached the makeshift tents that were being erected for the wounded and dead, they saw Bilbo and the rest of the dwarves of the company. They all looked ashen, and as bad as Kili felt. Their expressions sank into further grief and horror when they saw Fili's body put upon a blanket. Balin came forward and embraced Kili.

"I'm so sorry lad," he whispered tearfully.

"Where is Uncle?" Kili asked in a dead voice. "He was there when it happened. He will want to say goodbye." Balin would not look him in the eye, and just when Kili thought he couldn't feel anything anymore, he felt a distant dread.

"I'm sorry lad," Balin said again, and stepped back to reveal his uncle, the great Thorin Oakenshield, son of Thrain, son of Thror, lying on another blanket, staring as Fili did, at nothing.

Fearing that after another second he might throw up, or worse, explode from the soul outward, Kili turned and ran out of the tent, his only thought to get away, away from the pain and death and impossible nature of it all. He did not know how long he ran, but he stopped when he reached a fire one of the men from Dale had started. He sat down beside it, staring into the flames and trying to make them burn out his consciousness. When he had been close to death and had seen Tauriel looking at him that way, pleading with him to stay alive, he had desperately wanted to live. Now, he wanted to die. No, not die, just cease to exist. Cease to feel. Cease to know.

He had lost all concept of time, but eventually he noticed that someone sat beside him, he knew not for how long they had been there. When a light breeze stirred, he smelled the distinct woody scent of Tauriel. He turned to face her. His eyes were dead, and hers bore into them, reading his thoughts.

"Do you want me to help you sleep _melamin_? This draught will bring dreamless sleep. You need rest, for your body and mind. I will watch over you, and I will be there when you awake."

He registered her appearance fully for the first time. "You're hurt," he whispered hoarsely. The little flame of concern dimmed the darkness of despair for a fleeting moment. He brought his hand up to smooth back her hair in order to see the wound on her head.

"It's not serious," she assured him. "I will be fine tomorrow. Come with me, and let me help you first." She extended her hand, and taking it as a child would, he let her lead him to another tent.

"I will make sure you aren't disturbed," she said, helping him onto a makeshift roll consisting of a blanket over hay. "Here." She lifted a small vial and uncorked it. It was a clear liquid smelling of sweet herbs. She helped him to drink it, and laid his head back gently.

"Close your eyes, _melamin_, and go to sleep. I will be here for you, I promise. _Le melin._" She began to hum a tune, and although it had no words, it spoke very clearly to Kili of loss, but also love, and peace, an eternal peace in a world where pain did not exist, and a place where his brother would at last be able to rest.


	2. Chapter 2

**They Walk Among Stone and Starlight**

The company sat around the body of their fallen leader, the great Thorin Oakenshield. He looked peaceful in death, almost happy. He had finally avenged his father and destroyed Azog the Defiler, had ousted Smaug from his ill-gotten caverns, and had finally returned the dwarves to their rightful home, to Erebor. This came as small comfort to his kin, however. The hobbit also sat among them, sharing in their grief. Bilbo had been with Thorin at his last, and would not talk to any of them, so completely drawn into himself was he.

Suddenly, Kili came through the tent's opening, followed by the Elven maid, but the group could not at first distinguish what lay between them. Then the pair turned, placing their parcel upon a blanket, and they could see that it was Fili's body. Their sorrow, already so deep, plunged deeper still in their hearts.

Balin approached his young kinsman and embraced him. "I'm so sorry lad," he said, unable to think of anything that might console him after his brother's loss. The two had been opposite sides of the same coin, one soul in two bodies. And now only one remained. How would he find the strength to go on?

"Where is Uncle?" Kili asked in a dead voice. "He was there when it happened. He will want to say goodbye." Balin stepped back, hating to have to be the one to bring more horror upon the young dwarf.

"I'm sorry lad," he repeated. Kili's face crumbled in on itself, and then he was running out of the tent and into the night, running from the pain, as they all wanted to do.

The remaining dwarves and hobbit stood there, not knowing what to do. Balin had completely forgotten about the She-elf until she addressed him.

"I'm so sorry for your losses," she said softly, and it sounded like she meant it. "They were both brave warriors, and died honorably on the battlefield."

Balin could only manage a small nod of gratitude, and she inclined her head in acceptance and sympathy, then she too vanished into the night. Bofur made to go as well and find Kili, but Balin stayed him with a hand. "Let him go. He must grieve in his own way."

They knew not how many minutes or hours passed, before Ori suddenly spoke into the silence. "This means," he said slowly, "that Kili is our new king."

No one said anything for a moment. With all that had happened, they hadn't even thought of the future. Thorin had been their leader for so long, it seemed as if he still commanded them from the distant shores of Mahal.

"You're right," replied Nori suddenly. "He is the last heir of Durin. He is our King Under the Mountain."

"I doubt he's even thought of it," said Bofur. "Someone should find him, ask him what he wants to do."

"I'll go." Bilbo spoke in a hoarse voice. After hours of sitting with his dark thoughts for company, he felt the need to act, to move. "I'll find him." And without another word, he slipped out of the tent. He had no idea which way Kili had run, but he started off across the dry earth drenched in blood and bodies.

Eventually, he saw some men who looked like refugees from Laketown, and when he enquired, they told him a dwarf had gone into a tent not far away. Following their gazes, Bilbo approached the tent in question. Inside there were all manner of people, mostly men but dwarves too, huddled on blankets, either sleeping or having wounds tended. In the middle of the chaos, he discerned Kili's form lying on a straw mattress, fast asleep. Beside him the elf, Tauriel, he thought her name was, was sitting propped up against the tent canvas, also fast asleep. Her arm curved down towards the dwarf and her hand rested against his cheek. His body was turned to face her, his hand resting upon her knee.

Quietly, Bilbo left the tent. He did not know everything of dwarves, and far less still of elves, but he sensed that they were not an ordinary pairing. Whatever the nature of the relationship between Kili and Tauriel, it would be met with the stubbornness of dwarves and Fair Folk alike. For now, Bilbo let them rest and find comfort in each other's company. It seemed a happy friendship, and the world could use more friendship at a moment like this.

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**Author's Note**: I know this chapter is super short, but more coming soon!


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